Conversation Change
I’ve been asked a fair amount over the last few days about Monday’s news that two high profile cable television figures—Don Lemon of CNN and Tucker Carlson of Fox—were each shown the door by their respective employers.
Mr. Lemon’s departure was not a huge surprise given the headlines he’d made regarding on-air comments and the fact that the new show built around him recently was drawing very few viewers. Mr. Carlson’s situation was another matter, as it appeared to the world to have come out of nowhere.
Obviously, I have no idea what went down, and neither does anyone talking about it. The day-one speculation was wrong, the day-two speculation was no different, and I expect no better information now in day-three.
It’s not the first time Fox fired their highest rated host in that same 7 p.m. time period. Bill O’Reilly left for a planned vacation and never returned. That was supposedly due to him settling a sexual harassment suit privately…the company was not involved. But as news of what Mr. O’Reilly was accused of filtered out, comparisons were made with the rather active social life of Fox owner and family patriarch Rupert Murdoch. Having all that back in the public chatter was apparently more important, so once that started getting out, O’Reilly was gone and so was the Murdoch-related news.
One of the rumors is that Mr. Carlson’s departure is tied to the Dominion lawsuit Fox just settled…and it was, but perhaps not directly. As part of that lawsuit, certain things that Mr. Carlson said about his bosses via text message came to light…and let’s just say he was not complimenting them. A separate lawsuit filed by a now-former Fox employee has arisen out of the Dominion suit, and that certainly didn’t help.
Is it possible that the Murdoch family was willing to take on lawsuits, but the disparaging comments was a line that could not be crossed? Not too far-fetched to think that was the tipping point, a more emotional decision than anything else.
Again, I have no idea, but again, none of us do. What we do know is that many of you have already suggested you are done with Fox—some of you have been done since the 2020 election—and you’re hoping we will be too. Let’s just say we started examining options even before the 2020 election.
